GE's legendary former CEO Jack Welch kicks up a controversy over his affair with a journalist

Stories about romantic escapades rarely get much coverage in the financial press. Given that the business world's most prominent figures include people like Bill Gates and Alan Greenspan, this is perhaps not surprising, nor unappreciated. But leave it to Jack Welch, who pioneered so much else during his two decades as the chief executive of General Electric, to upend tradition.

As first reported last week in the Wall Street Journal, Welch--age 66, married and recently retired--ended up having an affair with Suzy Wetlaufer, 42, a divorce who edits the Harvard Business Review. Wetlaufer told colleagues that she became intimate with Welch...